SCRIPTWRITING: BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END

Plot - What happens in the script

Story - The significants of what happens (The point of the plot)

A story is like a ball (when you throw it you need to catch it). With our 10 minute scripts we'd only have 1 story but we can do lots of throws and twists with it. TV Series could have many different stories but you'd have to catch them all at the end like throwing lots of balls.

You can have simple stories or dangerous stories as long as you throw them up in the air and catch them at the end. With the plot, there will be ironies, dramatic ironies. The writers of 'South Park' have said that a plot that goes "this happens AND THEN this happens' is a bad plot and is boring. Your characters should have 'BUTS', hard choices, make these 'BUTS' interesting and dramatic because they are what will power the plot into a story. These will be a truth, a turning point for the character. The aim of good screenwriting is to get enough good 'BUTS' into your script. A dramatic irony: 'A bald man with a com in his pocket'.

When talking to your audience. You want them to think they know the character better than the character knows themselves. Then when they think they know the character, BANG! hit them with a BUT and shock them and keep the script interesting. As well as BUTS and dramatic irony, You need to have one important thing before writing, THE ENDING. If you know the ending, you can start thinking about the moments to lead up to that ending. You can then work on the beginning, the beginning is where you introduce your characters and what they're like quickly but effectively. This is three beginnings we looked at:

Tin Men 4BB opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p756GfB5FWA
 The opening to 'Tin Men'. We see two men, the first we can tell that he doesn't like his wife, he's stressed and from how he reacts to the crash, he's a con man because he's turning the blame onto the other guy. The man he crashed into, we see he's short tempered and that a car where he works shows characters and means something and we see why he got so angry. This is also the introduction to our main characters and we already know a good amount about them.

Rain man opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJcRwm6YdJQ
With this opening we are introduced to the main character. We learn a lot of his back story that even the other characters didn't know until this moment. We also see he's impaitent by the way he's tapping his fingers on the table and we see he's quite self centered by the reaction of not getting the money and only getting a used car and some rose bushes. We also get the idea he's in need of that money by the reaction and the fact he's then setting out to find out who actually has the money.

Little things can show how the story is going to go or what the characters we are seeing are like at the current moment. The opening needs to grab the audience attention and make them interested. Make them want to know more about the characters they've just seen. The best openings are the ones that throw up conflicts, big BUTS and throws 'the ball' up in the air. With the structure of a joke, the beginning is the set up. Beginnings are where you throw the ball up in the air and get the story going

The Middle is the 'distraction' in the structure. An extreme example of a middle is the shower scene in Psycho

Where the woman has robbed a bank, gotten away and decides to have a shower. For now we've believed this is a heist movie. Suddenly with this scene the film completely changes to a horror movie and we find there's a psycho going around and killing helpless women. This is an extreme example of a Middle, Steve advised us not to do this with our scripts since this is quite complicated. The middle of "Tin Men" is different but still gives that plot twist, the big guy goes and sleeps with the little guys wife and then tells the little guy about it. The little guy then tells him he's welcome to his wife and kicks her out and she ends up living with the big guy. It turns around and changes the story and brings more to the audience. Middle's are where you bring the distraction and plot twists as well as the character developments. Middles are where the story you thought were being told changes, it becomes something different, something more ironic.

The Ending is the 'Punch Line' of the structure. This is where you've been taking your audience, this journey you've been taking them on. 

Beginnings are a big BUT, Middles are an even BIGGER BUT and an End is the BIGGEST BUT you can think of. This is why you have to think of the ending first.

Moments
Moments are what you remember from a film, plots will be forgotten instantly but moments are the parts that everyone remembers, the best bits. These are the only reason anyone bothers with story telling. William Goldman said 'a good screenplay has 5 or 6 moments'. Beginnings, Middles and Ends are all moments. Once you've got those 3 main moments you can add in much more. In moments, you want to concentrate all the ironies into that moment. Moments can be heart breaking, shocking, terrifying and could also be so funny you get that pain in your sides! It all depends on what works with your story. The plot is never noticed, or the dialogue, story or characters if the moments are good and there's enough. These are what they wait for and watch. If the audience have to think about:
- Story
- Plot
- Character
- Dialogue
Then they will hate you and you have done it wrong because it isn't giving them the enjoyment they need. When you start writing, start with the moments. Where are the moments going to be in your script? If you don't have moments, look at other moments, find some, can they work with your story?